Occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and risk of prostate cancer

Abstract

Background Several industries entailing exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are known or suspected carcinogens. A handful of studies have assessed the role of PAHs exposure in prostate cancer risk, but none has examined tumor aggressiveness or the influence of screening practices and detection issues. We aimed to examine the association between lifetime occupational exposure to PAHs and prostate cancer risk. Methods Detailed work histories were collected from 1,929 prostate cancer cases (436 aggressive) and 1,994 controls from Montreal, Canada (2005–2012). Industrial hygienists applied the hybrid expert approach to assign intensity, frequency and certainty of exposure to benzo[a]pyrene, PAHs from wood, coal, petroleum, other sources, and any source, in each job held. Odds ratios (ORs) for prostate cancer risk associated with lifetime PAHs exposure, adjusted for age, ancestry, education, lifestyle and occupational factors, and 95% confidence intervals (CI), were estimated using unconditional logistic regression. Results After restriction to probable and definite exposures, and application of a 5-year lag, no clear association emerged for any of the PAHs, although small excesses in risk were apparent with 5-year increments in exposure to PAHs from wood (OR = 1.06, 95%CI 0.95 to 1.18). While analyses by cancer aggressiveness suggested no major differences, some elevated risk of high-grade cancer was observed for exposure to PAHs from wood (OR = 1.37, 95%CI 0.65 to 2.89), frequently occurring among firefighters. Conclusion Findings provide weak support for an association between occupational exposure to PAHs from wood and prostate cancer risk.

The Association between Urinary Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Metabolites and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

“…The effects of PAHs on human health have been widely studied in recent years. In addition to an increased risk of T2DM, PAHs have also been reported to be associated with other diseases, including cardiovascular diseases [44], lung cancer [45,46], prostate cancer [47], osteoporosis [48], and so on. A review of these literatures may provide new ideas for further exploration of the association between PAHs and T2DM in the future.…”

Occupational heat exposure and prostate cancer risk: a pooled analysis of case-control studies

“…Positive associations with occupational detergent exposure were found in an MCC-Spain study of female breast cancer risk (Hinchliffe et al, 2021), although there is a lack of evidence in the literature regarding an association with prostate cancer. Cadmium, lead, and PAH exposures have previously been associated with an increased prostate cancer risk in some studies (Mullins and Loeb, 2012;Rybicki et al, 2006;Barul and Parent, 2021). Separate analyses were conducted to compare associations between occupational heat exposure and prostate cancer risk in those never and those ever exposed to cadmium, lead, detergents or PAHs and potential interactions were explored.…”

“…This study uses data from three large population-based case-control studies of prostate cancer risk undertaken around a similar time period: PROtEuS (Barul and Parent, 2021;Barul et al, 2019), MCC-Spain (Castaño-Vinyals et al, 2015) (www.mccspain.org), and EPICAP (Menegaux et al, 2014).…”

Ambient exposures to selected volatile organic compounds and the risk of prostate cancer in Montreal

“…We conducted a population-based case-control study in Montreal that was designed to investigate the role of occupational and environmental exposures in prostate cancer ("Prostate Cancer and Environment Study," PROtEuS). 8,9,[11][12][13][14]24,25 We enrolled newly diagnosed, histologically confirmed cases of prostate cancer treated in French-language Montreal hospitals in 2005 to 2009, under 76 years of age at time of diagnosis or recruitment, residing in the Montreal area, and registered on Quebec's permanent electoral list. These hospitals covered over 80% of all prostate cancer cases diagnosed in the area.…”